Sarah Gomez. Dancing is a right of everybody.

Sarah and I sat down in one of the most vibrant spots in downtown Beijing, Nali Patio – a Mediterranean-styled courtyard with lush greenery. A buzzling space-time capsule filled with Latin vibes and flavors from all over the world, where oftentimes I tend to forget I am in Beijing. Coincidence or not, I found this place to fit well with how I got to know Sarah over the past few months attending her dance classes. Energetic, always-smiling Sarah just radiates the kinds of contagious happiness and excitement you also find on the dance floor. The moment the music starts is the moment you leave all your daily worries behind, the only thing you might still worry about, is getting the dance steps right.

Thank you Sarah for making the time to talk to Lens of Passion! I am really excited to learn more today about your passion for dancing and teaching. How did it all begin?
Dancing has been a passion throughout my entire life. So I’ve danced everything. I’ve danced from a very young age. I grew up in New Mexico in the United States. In my culture, it’s very common for people to dance all the time. We have these parties, birthdays, graduation, church fiestas, city fiestas – people are always dancing. I grew up with my grandparents and they were awesome dancers. They had matching outfits and they would just go to the town fiesta every Sunday and dance in the square. My entire family loves dancing, I love dancing. Partner dancing was always difficult because there are usually so many women and not enough men on the floor, so the women learn to dance with each other but eventually, at some point, everybody becomes quite good at leading and following.

Has dance been your career, or professional identity, since the beginning?
I have two degrees in journalism and I taught at Northwestern University in Illinois. I was probably 28-29 when I started competitive dancing for a while, and I danced for five years – West Coast Swing, so it wasn’t salsa, but I was quite serious about dancing. Then I eventually decided to stop competitive dancing because it had become stressful. The thing that I loved most in life was becoming really hard for me. Because when I would lose, I would be really upset in the competitions. I was putting in more energy than I wanted. It was rough. In competitions, you have to learn to win and lose gracefully and I wasn’t a very good loser. So at one point, I decided that I had to take a leave from competitive dancing. I was sure dance would come back into my life. And here we are now, I started DanceFam almost a year ago.

What is DanceFam?  
DanceFam is a not-for-profit dance community in Beijing open to everybody interested in learning social dancing, beginners and experienced dancers of all backgrounds are all welcome to join. Currently there are two classes a week, one for beginners and one for intermediate dancers. Primarily we teach and learn the New York style salsa, also known as the salsa on two (referring to the way you count the music), but we regularly explore and experiment with other Latin-American dance styles such as salsa Cubana and Bachata.

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My students pay me with their time to spread the love of dance to other people.

Sarah Gomez

What propelled you to start this dance group?
You know, it just came out of this really strange part in my life, where I had broken up with my boyfriend and I was really sad. I was running down the street and thought to myself, “Alright, what will make you happier than anything in the world?” And I said to myself I had to get back to dancing.

At that time I had already joined FitFam, which is a nonprofit organization that offers free exercise classes to people. So I said, I’m going to invite my friends to my dance class for free. If people want to come, that’s great, if they don’t want to come, maybe it’ll be a one-time thing. So we started teaching. A bunch of people came, and then a bunch more people came, and it’s turned into something that is a whole movement. Now, our group dances twice a week. It’s super amazing.

What made you choose salsa as the dancing style for DanceFam? Have you enjoyed teaching it so far?
When I decided to teach dance classes through FitFam, I asked the people what kind of dance they wanted to do and everybody wanted to learn salsa. Before I had done some salsa in college, and at a studio in Chicago, and more salsa in Latin America. I never led salsa as a partner dance but I decided to give it a shot and learn how to lead. There are only so many ways to move the body, right? It’s been a huge learning experience for me because I’m a perfectionist.

As a competitive dancer in the USA, I learned to lead several dances but not salsa. I wasn’t worried about leading it because people make it look complex with flicks and sometimes gratuitous spins. But at its core, and what I think is good salsa—beautiful movement and connecting to the music—it is no different than other dances. Plus, it follows a pretty strict formula which is much easier to teach than an interpretive dance like West Coast Swing.

Teaching salsa has been very interesting because I’ve been teaching the leads (the partner leading the dance) along with learning how to officially lead salsa myself. It gives me a level of empathy with the students because I know how hard it is to lead. A lot of follows do not understand this perspective. I have to gauge how fast or slow I should teach classes with the consideration for the actual difficulty to lead and follow, in this partner dance, and this mindset really helps. Sometimes when you’re at the teaching level, you risk to have a disconnect so you must imagine a student’s experience to keep everyone feel relevant and motivated.

What are some of the unique and endearing things about DanceFam?
DanceFam is a unique group. For 99% of the people who dance with DanceFam, this was their first dance class in their entire lives. They did not know how it is to hold somebody, move or approach people on a dance floor. It is a wonderful thing realizing that I’ve helped people take their first step, literally.

There’s a lot of trust involved in the process. I recall so many beautiful moments with people saying, “I can’t believe I’m dancing!” and they hold on to me for they were excited or overwhelmed. These are some of the strongest moments in my whole life. Or when I have somebody learning the steps, I’d grab them and say, “Okay, let’s just do some basic steps,” and then we’re dancing, and they’re like, “Wow, this is really great.” I love these moments when trust is built.

We’ve created this monumental community of dancers out of zero. When you look out on the dance floor at a DanceFam event, all those people started as beginners. Now we have 700 people in the WeChat groups and everyone is a DanceFam “original”. It’s fantastic.

Sometimes I just sit on the sidelines and I have tears in my eyes. It took a whole community to build the phenomenal dancers we have now within just one year. The level of dedication and passion is fantastic. Besides, there’s so much diversity on the dance floor in DanceFam. We have different nationalities, genders, professional backgrounds, levels of artistic experience. I try to ensure inclusiveness as one of the core values of this community.

I realize when somebody first gets good at something, they may get a little brave, or they may feel a little elitist and exclusive. I think that people always want to create a hierarchy out of anything, no matter what they do. What I try to say a lot to my students and DanceFam’s teachers is that because you started with DanceFam, you know what it is to be scared, you know what it is to start from zero. You need to have compassion, and you still need to dance with everybody because you need to show people the way like you were shown the way. You need to give back to the community. And I think that the model works very well.

Sometimes I just sit on the sidelines and I have tears in my eyes.

Sarah Gomez

That’s truly incredible for we all know dancing can be intimidating for many! What are the qualities you have seen that make a beginner advance faster than others?
The method that I use for DanceFam is, as soon as you have been coming regularly to the classes for six months, you get to be in the teacher circle and you get to teach a class. As soon as somebody becomes a teacher, you can see their level just jumps really high. For example, Talha and Charlee are two dancers who started in with me seven months ago and I knew they’d make great dance teachers, because they’re friendly. Friendliness is one of the main things I always look for among my students. The other thing is that the person is willing to dance with everybody. As I mentioned before, the downside to anything is that people tend to make a hierarchy out of anything. It’s so commonplace, especially for some ladies to say, “Oh yes I dance salsa and I don’t want to dance with beginners, I’m a pro already.” So I notice and appreciate people who dance with all the levels because these community-minded people will rise. When I told them they would become teachers the next month, they were given this responsibility and their level just shot through the sky.

Simply put, what is the magic sauce to effective and sustainable learning?
One of the lessons I’ve learned teaching is that the more responsibility you give your students, the more ownership they can take over the material. It’s a really important way to notice the potential in them, then train them with accountability to understand the material better.

I watch the teachers, and I make sure that the teachers all dance with the new students. I am the greatest example of somebody who genuinely likes to dance with beginners. I want to dance with all the students, I want to make them feel comfortable. Because I want them to realize that they can dance.

I also believe that truly loving what you teach makes the difference. I’ve never done anything in my life that I haven’t cared deeply about from the bottom of my heart. I’m a small town girl from Santa Fe, New Mexico, I knew nothing about Russian literature but there was a Russian literature teacher at my university and everybody took this guy’s class because he was just so in love, so passionate about what he taught, what he did. He lived the material.

When you care, your students care. I teach students to love something, this way I feel like my students will not just be good, they’ll be great at what they do. That’s all it’s about.

Let’s jump back a little bit to your journey. We’re both expats in China. Why are you here today and not somewhere else?
Four years ago, I quit my job in Chicago. I had been teaching at an elite university where the where kids wanted to be on their computers in class much more than they should. That’s when I realized that I really just want to teach and feel like I matter to somebody and that I’m really making a difference in somebody’s life. So I quit and moved to Colombia, South America, where I taught at a public high school in Cartagena. The school was dirt-poor, no resources, I taught in a building with one fan at the top of a scorching hot classroom but I did what I set out to do, I didn’t make any money, but I taught wonderful kids who really appreciated me and the education. I was teaching, getting to know the students, Columbia, dancing and enjoying life. I went back to what’s “real” – connecting with people. Eventually, I ran out of money, as you can’t make any money teaching in Colombia, unfortunately. Then I got recruited for a job in China. So I moved to Beijing almost three years ago. Actually, I was getting ready to leave when the pandemic just started, but due to my stable well-being and job here, I decided to stay here until the pandemic ends.

By this point I had had a nice time in China but it was nothing amazing. Then I met this exercise group called FitFam. It was just a really weird coincidence in time that brought together all of these people who were really sad and had no friends at that time. We worked out and hung out every day forming this dynamic group of friends. Then I started DanceFam and it snowballed quickly. On the personal side, I also met my current boyfriend. That together with great friends and dancing, I never want to leave. I’m doing my passion in life.

Sounds like some unstoppable blessings in disguise! So you’re living the dream?
100% I’m living the dream. I wish I made more money…but who needs money when you really have just an incredibly fulfilling life? I’m connected with so many great people, dancing, living in this beautiful place. Beijing is a phenomenal city, there’s nightlife, park space, restaurants just steps away from your house. It’s an expensive city, but still an affordable one.

How is the reality for you living in China as a foreigner and a dancer?
There are great opportunities for foreigners. When you offer something as a foreigner that they don’t have here yet, a lot of doors open for you. Dancing (salsa) is hugely popular. Bars and restaurant owners want to have dancers in their space so I and the group get invited to a lot of places. We get to do all kinds of exciting things.

Everything you’ve been telling so far is just so inspiring. What are some highlights or turning points of your running DanceFam for a year now?
For the first couple of months (July until November 2020), I recruited a DanceFam member to be my partner. He would teach the leads, I would teach the follows. It went very well, then he had to relocate. That forced me to think about how I was going to make DanceFam sustainable? In month 5, I came up with the idea of recruiting the students to become teachers. At that point, there were people who have been dancing for five months already and started becoming pretty good dancers. That was also the point where it started to take a lot more work. In addition to teaching on Mondays and Wednesdays, I also would have to meet with the teachers on Sundays.

Working with the student-teachers, I get to hear their stories and their dance journeys. And I get to see how I can better help them and how I can contribute to the group. So I think getting the student-teachers involved was a major turning point. Also, seeing how beautiful the teachers are, once they take on the responsibility of becoming teachers, and they practice and they perform these demos, really seeing them become complete dancers – it’s the family completing the first successful cycle that motivates me as a leader.

I just love watching them dance together, out on the floor. What a profound sense of community we now have. They are really strong dancers, committed people and good human beings.

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As an expat who may change cities over the next 3-5 years. Do you see DanceFam expand geographically? 
We’ve established the basics. The DanceFam teachers are now able to teach the pattern. The next level is for the DanceFam teachers to lead the entire class with me stepping aside and not saying a word. That’s a very hard mountain to climb. In addition to be able to dance they’ll have to be able to verbalize the teaching, and that’s not something that can be taken for granted. The DanceFam teachers come from all walks of life, they sell insurance, they’re television reporters, they’re in the financial industry.

My idea is to create a group of about 16 teachers that could still carry DanceFam if I were to leave China. We’re about half and half, half foreigners and half Chinese locals. Ideally, it will work in the way that these teachers will keep growing the teacher base; and then when people move away, hopefully they’ll start their own DanceFams.

My dream is to really have an informational base of salsa patterns and teaching handouts so the new teachers could just look through and teach the class. Because in order to run a good dance class, you really have to become a good teacher. What I tell the teachers all the time is, this is my life, I put a ton of effort into this and if you really want to be a teacher, I will help you. Whether your future is going to be a DanceFam teacher and do it for free, or you’re going to charge people and actually be a dance teacher and make some money. That’s totally cool.

Your choice to make this experience free for everyone who wants to dance and to become your apprentice, totally free of charge, is remarkable. What’s that thought process like? Many people asked me because I go to your class, “If Sarah were such an amazing dance teacher, why wouldn’t she make money out of it?” What would you say?
I want people to try and own dance because I think dancing is something that’s a right of everybody. Everybody has the right to dance for free. It’s like learning a language. People learn languages, people learn dance. It shouldn’t be only for people who can afford it. Often partner dance classes such as salsa, are horribly expensive. Some dance teachers scrounge to get students because they have to pay the bills. I don’t want to pay the bills with dance so I’m lucky enough to have a job that supports this dream. I don’t have to think about money, I want to teach for free, for the love of dance.

People who pay money for classes have proportionally high expectations. Oftentimes they are the ones who don’t want to dance with beginners because they start feeling above that level. DanceFam is a different social circle where you dance for free and give back by supporting the learning of others, in return you improve your learning as well.

My students pay me with their time to spread the love of dance to other people.

Working for passion for free, aka not “monetizing” your passion…that’s a big one.
Yes. And it’s not easy. For my full-time job I’m an actress on a phone app, I teach English to little kids by interacting with animated characters. But what I decided is to do my work to pay the bills, and then do what I love in my spare time. I go to work, I do the job. I’m good at my job. And that’s totally something new for me and something great, because I just clock in, I do my job well, I clock out and I leave. 

I’ve had the biggest and longest love-hate relationship with journalism because my heart was in that. Then when you’re working on something that you love and it just starts killing you. I don’t want to love-hate dance. So having a job that fulfills something technical, such as money, and then really filling your life with all these beautiful things for free, is a super cool idea. It’s different, but works for me.

Has this free dancing class concept created any problems?
The free-of-charge concept does have its hiccups sometimes, but for the most part, people are very committed. I think, when you don’t pay money for something, you could be doing it for a greater reason. I think our dance floor attracts people who have their hearts in the right place.

Other than building a community and spreading the beauty of dance, what else do you want to achieve with this passion project?
I want to prove to everybody that dance is for everyone. We hear too often, “I can’t dance,” or “I should have started earlier,” or, “Latinos are born dancing, it’s not fair, I’ll never get there.” No! If you think this is for you, that you want to be a dancer, without exception, you will become a good dancer.

When I teach a guy to dance, I say “do you think good soccer players came out of the womb playing soccer? He is good at soccer because you’ve been playing soccer for 35 years. People who can dance really well did not come out of the womb dancing. They danced at parties with their grandparents, they danced at graduation birthday parties.

When I started competitive dancing, all dancers learned a new dance and it took us about two years to go from baby West Coast Swing dancers to professional West Coast Swing dancers. The process was hard but every single one of them did it. Sometimes it took them six months, some a year, sometimes it took them three years, but all of a sudden it would click, bam! No one was left behind. If you want it, you have it. Put in the work, everyone can dance.

Music is said to be a universal language, dance too. Do you see that in your own classes, given such a culturally diverse community?
When it comes to the mixing of culture, Chinese and foreign, everybody loves to dance in my classroom. When you are a dancer, it really doesn’t matter who you’re dancing with. We are all connected through music and when you learn to love dance – you feel it! I’ve seen deep friendships form in DanceFam that transcend gender, age difference and even absolute language barriers – it could only happen through music and dance. I really believe in the idea that everybody has a dance soul. It’s this connection you have to the music, the dance and everybody around you dancing.

I remember how Echo came to my class with this incredible passion and hunger for dance, she would be the first one to come and the last one to leave spending every single minute of the night dancing. Then already I could see that she’d become an incredible dancer, she was on another planet of happiness. And though this shared passion we’ve blossomed into a beautiful pair of girlfriends. Echo became my rock when it comes to DanceFam, and if I had to leave China she’s the person I could trust blindly to keep this community running.

And on a broader note what I love to see here in China is how people love to dance, it’s not just the ladies dancing on the square, sometimes it’s also the men dancing on the square. Dancing is totally acceptable here and people want to learn. Sadly, I think the older generations of Chinese people dance a lot, but maybe the new generation not as much. So this is a really great opportunity for younger people to learn how to dance and get to know each other in a different way.

How would you describe passion? What do you see, hear, smell, feel when you hear the word passion?
Salsa is so passionate outwardly in so many ways that it almost seems cliché. Of course, salsa is sexy, and the people who dance well are sexy. Dance makes you sexy and passionate. But I think that when you really have a passion for dance you just are committed to helping people learn how to move and to really find within themselves what makes them feel good.

Some of the first times that I had really great dances and I knew that I had crossed over from being beginner mover to an actual dancer, I felt like I was at the beach and the wind was blowing in my hair, like I could feel beautiful and skilled. And I was in this beautiful bubble of happiness that just took me away somewhere.

When I dance, I dance because it takes me away. All I have to do is connect to the music and connect with my partner. It’s an escape from daily life and a way to relax because after an hour of great dancing I feel like I can tackle my problems in a much better way because I just stepped away.

I think that’s a great thing, especially in China, where people work so hard and life is so competitive, and I just say, “Get to the dance floor, and just get to the lesson and I’ll take you away. You have the rest of your life to be stressed. Let’s just have this night and have a nice time.”

We’re very lucky here in China to dance freely. For those who are still in the chains of pandemic, or simply thinking of starting to dance after reading your story, what would you recommend?
If people are thinking about starting to dance and they’re wondering if they should, yes, they should. YouTube, TikTok and the online resources available now provide a great opportunity to get a head start. I realize that some countries still have limited social interaction, but, the best dancers know their own foot work really well and you can get a really good jumpstart practicing on your own.

People who dance will never be lonely because you speak the language of dance, and there will always be other people who speak the language of dance too. Dancers open themselves up to so many opportunities. But it can be very intimidating to get started dancing if nobody ever taught you how to move your body. The good news is that I know through experience teaching hundreds of beginner dancers, it’s 100% possible for anybody to learn how to dance.

Do you have a favorite song to dance to?
One of the things that I teach people in DanceFam is how to understand music so that they could enjoy it more. The song I feel it coming by the Weekend is a perfectly structured pop song that you can dance anything on, good for beginner dancers to learn how to count music.

But as for the song I like to dance to, La Vida Es Un Carnaval by Celia Cruz is probably a great song that everybody can identify with. The moral of the song is: “Life is better, if you’re dancing. Why be sad when you can sing and dance?” Simple logic, and a great message to live your life by.

And a wonderful closure to our conversation. Thank you Sarah for this inspiring conversation!

Connect with Sarah through
Instagram: runtowardthesun
WeChat: gomezsarahgomez

Featured image (top of page) credit: “Sarah” by Rodrigo Escobar-Vanegas